Leslie had a lot of friends, she told them, though only two really close ones—Katy and a woman Leslie had known since grade school. That woman now lived in Ohio.
“Do you think Leslie would have gone there if she was on the run from something?” Scott asked.
“Maybe.” Katy leaned her head against the door. “Except that she and her husband are in Europe for a month.”
Jotting everything down, Scott stopped for a moment, sheer frustration preventing him from carrying on with his questioning.
There had to
be something he was missing. A clue that was staring him in the face...
“She does have a new boyfriend, though,” Katy added, almost as an afterthought.
Or a player he wasn’t aware of.
Scott looked up. “How new?”
“I don’t know. A month, maybe.” Katy straightened, though she didn’t loosen her grip on the door.
Laurel gave her a gentle smile. “Have you met him?”
Katy’s expression turned pensive as she shook her head. “Leslie doesn’t talk much about him. I don’t even know his name. I’ve just seen him coming and going a couple of times. I suspected she was keeping quiet about him because he’s so much older than her.”
“Older?” Scott and Laurel exchanged a glance. “How much older?”
“I don’t know, since I didn’t actually meet him.” Katy looked worried as her glance swept from one of them to the other. “Ten, fifteen years, maybe.”
“Can you tell us what he looked like?” At that moment, Scott felt like hugging the pretty housewife. Finally, a real clue.
“Tall, a classic California beachboy type except older. There was definite gray in his dark hair. He was really handsome, though.”
“Do you remember what kind of car he drove?”
“No.” Katy frowned. “He never seemed to drive. He was in Leslie’s car the times I saw him.”
That fact was awarded its own page in Scott’s little notebook.
Though he and Laurel visited with Katy for another ten minutes, they didn’t learn anything else that was useful. But they’d gained an ally. If Katy noticed anyone anywhere near Leslie’s house, she was going to call Scott’s cell phone immediately.
Along with everyone else he’d talked to in the last couple of days.
Scott just hoped the damn thing would start ringing.
* * *
“YOU WANT TO head back to Cooper’s Corner?” he asked as they returned to the Blazer, buckling their seat belts.
“There doesn’t seem to be much point in hanging around here.” She and Scott were both frustrated and tired.
And spending far too much time together for Laurel’s peace of mind.
Within moments, they had a plan. They’d return to Cooper’s Corner. Scott was going to visit a few people and see how many more favors he could cash in on. He wanted to find out more about both Cecilia and William, like what kind of purchases they’d made recently on their credit cards. That sort of thing.
Laurel thought she’d spend a little more time downtown. Maybe there was someone who had overheard the couple talking during their time at the diner Saturday afternoon.
“Didn’t you have plans for this vacation of yours?” she asked Scott after several minutes of silent driving.
He looked at her for a long moment. “No.”